Thursday, June 19, 2008

New Book/New Technique

I got a few new cookbooks for my birthday this year and I'm gradually getting through them and trying some of the recipes. The first one I'd like to tell you about is from Fish - Without a Doubt. Kind of a silly name, but the author Rick Moonen has some popular restaurants in NYC and is known for working with seafood. This is my second cookbook that focuses just on seafood. My first is James Peterson's Fish & Shellfish. That book contains loads of info about every imaginable species of fish and the recipes are classic preparations that reflect Peterson's formal French training plus some other interesting worldly dishes. Fish - Without a Doubthas more contemporary fish preparations. The recipes read like a menu where you (meaning "I") would want to order just about everything.

I decided to try my first recipe from the book when I was looking for some to do with a couple of grouper fillets. This recipe was recommended as a nice way to prepare any fillet of white fish on the thinner side. It is really easy, but you do need a cast iron grill pan. You start by preheating the broiler with the empty cast iron pan underneath the heat for about 15 minutes. When it is hot, you give the fillets a flip in some melted butter on both sides. Season them and press on some chopped herbs. Then you sprinkle just a teaspoon of fresh breadcrumbs along the top of the fillet. You put the fillet on the smoking hot grill pan and put it back under the broiler for about 3 minutes, depending on the thickness of the fish. Mine was just under half an inch and it was done in 3. What you get is perfectly cooked, buttery fish with just a tiny hint of crunch. The crumbs are more for browning than for texture here. It is easy to remove the fish from the pan without breaking the fillets because they are sitting on the grill lines so they don't stick much. A wide spatula helps too.

I used some chives, parsley and dill for my herbs. The butter flavor is nice but I suppose you could use olive oil. I'd use a light one though, not extra virgin.